Personal Anecdote
"Oh, you're Asian so that must mean you're smart. Help me with this math problem."
Yeah. Like I haven't heard that one before. Sure, it's really a "compliment" so that isn't necessarily a stereotype, right? When you hear people tell you this all the time, I don't think that's really the case. The thing is, people tell me this all the time and they think that it's really a compliment when really, it's a bit of a jab. Sure the statement seems to be a compliment but it underhandedly tells me that I should be smart and that if I'm not, then I'm not a "real Asian." Let's add to the list of Asian stereotypes by telling me that I'm a bad driver and have slanty eyes too. What I've realized is that stereotypes really lead up to racist remarks, and when it comes to being racist I think many can agree that racism shouldn't be tolerated, so why should stereotypes? I realize now that my personal anecdote really isn't one story about what happened that one time, but that's because this kind of situation has been tossed into my face so many times that it's all become one big blur.
Hypothetical Situation
A lot of us can relate to a certain type of stereotype. The jock, popular, emo, scene, class clown, redneck, creep, nerd, punk, white trash, gangster, dumb blonde, you name it. And no matter who you are, there's no doubt in my mind that you've been categorized into one of the many different types of stereotypes. If you havn't, then I'll be damned.
Imagine yourself as me. I'm an American born Asian, but on the outside all you see is just Asian. You don't know where I've grown up, what I've done, or who I really am, and you go into class where the teacher is teaching something, lets say math, and the concept is a little bit difficult for you. You hear from someone next to you that they don't really understand the material, but they know that you do since you're Asian. In actuality, however, you're just as confused as the next guy. How are you supposed to respond? You have this "title" to uphold as being smart and you've been put on the spot to prove it, but really you can't because you have absolutely no idea whats going on. So, what you do is you tell the truth. "I don't get what he's teaching, sorry." As you say this you kind of have this sinking feeling for two reasons: 1. You have to admit your faults, that you don't have a clue, and 2. You're a little upset that this person assumes you know the material because of your race, not because you've been known to be a good student or because you've done well on past exams.
It's upsetting. Just like every other stereotype does, it forces this image onto you when you haven't even been given a chance to prove who you really are and what you're really capable of.
My friend put this on my fb wall, and I died laughing.
I can't wait to read your Common Place paper because these little "snip-its" are really good and make me want to read more!
ReplyDeleteI still wonder what's worse, a stereotype where you're 'worse' than it, or one where you have to build yourself up? I'm a white girl in engineering, so in a lot of my classes in high school I always felt like I had to "prove" myself to my classmates (boys) for them to actually consider my suggestions instead of just assuming I'm a girl and don't have any good ideas.
ReplyDelete@Maggie: yeah I feel you on the engineering thing. My ECE 261 class is almost all male and whenever I'm in that class I feel like they're all looking at me and that I have to prove that I'm just as good if not better than them because theres so few women in engineering!
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